


Clan

by CuriosityRedux



Series: Dragon Drabbles Berk [41]
Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Hiccstrid - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-27
Updated: 2018-11-27
Packaged: 2019-08-30 03:24:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 586
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16756732
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CuriosityRedux/pseuds/CuriosityRedux
Summary: Toothless keeps watch over his rider's mate.





	Clan

**Clan**

**-**

Hiccup hadn’t left his mate’s side since he’d had Toothless carry her in on his back. The old woman had left long ago, but the dragon’s rider didn’t move. He curled around Astrid’s belly, his fingers laced in hers, and pressed the occasional kiss to her navel. She slept, but he didn’t.

She was heavy with his hatchling. Toothless could sense the change in her smell, and her stomach was swollen and round. It would be the second litter for them, though humans seemed to rarely give birth to more than one hatchling at a time. Though they mated much more frequently, reproducing seemed to take a toll on the females of their species. It was an unusual problem that Toothless hadn’t noticed until recently. It explained why the dragon population expanded much more quickly than the humans’.

The Night Fury had only seen his human cry a handful of times. When his sire died, his face was wet for several days. But after that, it was a rare sight to see. But when Hiccup knelt with trembling hands over his mate’s body after she’d fallen from her saddle, Toothless had noticed the water glittering in his eyes. He shook, like he sometimes did after the end of a long battle, and he’d cringed at Astrid’s little noises of pain.

Toothless padded over to the humans’ soft nest, nudging his head in question against his rider’s shoulder. He was answered with a tired smile and a scratch behind his ears. 

“Thanks bud,” he whispered, and the dragon rested his chin on the corner of the nest. His voice sounded like he’d breathed too much fire. “Nothing yet. We’re still waiting it out.”

Toothless wondered where the other hatchling was. The house was strangely quiet without the tiny human wobbling around, chewing on the Night Fury’s ears and chasing his tail with screeching laughter. He liked the little thing— Hiccup’s mate called him “Icky”. Icky liked crawling into Toothless’ nest while he was sleeping and curling up under his wing. The first time he’d done it, the dragon was indignant and taken aback, but he’d eventually wake up long enough to move his claws away from the hatchling’s face and fall back asleep.

There was a strange emotion making Toothless’ chest tight as he watched his rider press against his mate. It was the same feeling that bothered him when he watched the island empty during hatching season. A coldness between his ribs that he almost wanted to scratch free. 

He wondered if Hiccup would look after Night Fury hatchlings the way Toothless cared for the tiny human. He wondered what it was like to fall asleep nuzzled against a mate. To nudge at a nest full of eggs. They searched— Toothless knew it was what drove his rider farther and farther away from the island. But their trips turned up empty. It seemed he would never know.

The dragon sighed and half-climbed onto the nest. He sniffed at Astrid’s belly and nudged at the hatchling inside. The blonde human stirred, her hand absently finding one of Toothless’ jaw fins and giving it an affectionate tug. Then it went limp as sleep claimed her again. 

He’d wait with his rider. Even if the night stretched on without any movements from the unborn human. Toothless closed his eyes and settled into the spot at Astrid’s waist. He’d wait with them, because the loss of a clan member was a grief the Night Fury knew all too well. 


End file.
